Vivid Sydney Announces 2013 Lineup of Leading Entrepreneurs

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, May 15, 2013

From experiential marketing to biomedical animation, urban planning to games design, the world's creative leaders will gather in Sydney for Vivid Ideas, the industry and business events pillar of Vivid Sydney, from May 24 to June 10.

With Level 6 of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia re-designed as the creative hub of Vivid Sydney, the Vivid Ideas Exchange will host over 100 public and industry events covering fashion, design, theatre, film, photography, publishing, gaming, animation, music, technology, lighting, architecture and education.

Over 18 dynamic days, Sydney's brilliantly illuminated foreshore will be the perfect backdrop for Australia's biggest gathering of local and global industry leaders and emerging talent, where creative professionals will come together to collaborate, foster business connections and showcase new ideas.

Curated by Vivid Ideas Festival Director Jess Scully, the signature program will run nightly addressing the Ten Commandments of Creative Practice with late night sessions offering exclusive insights into the making of blockbuster games, pop hits and mobile apps.

In Australian exclusives for Vivid Ideas, renowned comedic visual artist and cult icon David Shrigley (UK) will explore the unique creative journey behind his latest book, How Are You Feeling?, and digital artist and storyteller Jonathan Harris (USA) will demonstrate how, in an age with 'too much information', data can be made beautiful.

Joining Harris to give exclusive Australian keynote talks, award-winning streetwear entrepreneur Johnny Cupcakes (USA) will share the genius philosophy behind his experiential and interactive retail environments, world-leading biomedical animator Drew Berry (USA/Australia) will demonstrate how creativity and science are more connected than one would think, urban design guru David Sim (UK/Denmark) will showcase how a city's design can encourage connections, imagination and a sense of community, and global youth planning and research consultant Ruby Pseudo (UK) will offer her perspective on building a movement in today's truly global generation.

Learn from the best in the world when iconic independent magazine editors, Lucky Peach editor Chris Ying (USA) and Colors photo editor Mauro Bedoni (Italy), share their secrets on how independent publishers can thrive in the blog age, producing high-end content at low-end budgets.

"Vivid Ideas is about turning inspiration into action. It's an opportunity to learn how to build a career or a business in the creative industries, to hear personal stories and advice from the best creative practitioners in the world, and go behind the scenes to see how games, TV shows and theatre are made," said Scully.


"The jobs of the future will be built on imagination. Over 170,000 people in NSW already work in the creative sector, and industries from design to technology and gaming are growing at a rate double that of traditional industries.

"Vivid Ideas is our chance to celebrate local talent, and to support our outstanding filmmakers, designers, performers, technologists and artists by introducing them to creative world-leaders, exposing them to new trends and opportunities, and connecting them with each other."

In a series of fast-paced late night sessions, creative teams from across the world will take audiences behind the scenes to explore the makings of how huge creative projects, from transformative theatre to a blockbuster game, can become a reality. Other key themes from the program offer the opportunity connect with industry at leading conferences, expand business opportunities, develop key skills and be inspired.

Destination NSW CEO Sandra Chipchase said the Vivid Ideas program represents what is unique about Vivid Sydney and its platform for global creative industries to come together in a striking harbor-side city to network, share ideas and do business.

"Vivid Sydney is like no other event in the world. The groundbreaking event model, developed by Destination NSW, is a platform to highlight Australia's global city to local and international audiences and a forum for the creative industries to collaborate, foster business connections and showcase new ideas" said Chipchase.

A testament to the Vivid Sydney platform, Vivid Ideas welcomes a number of new collaborations in 2013, including the Australian International Design Festival, The Digital Playground by IDEA Australia, International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA) 2013, Semi-Permanent, Sydney Writers' Festival, Reportage Photography Festival and Head On Festival, which join SPARC International Lighting Event, Sydney Film Festival, X|Media|Lab, Mumbrella360, AMPlify and CeBIT Australia.

"Vivid Sydney celebrates Sydney as the creative hub of Australia and the Asia Pacific region, and in its short five year history has been named by the influential Guardian newspaper as one of the world's top ten ideas festivals alongside SXSW and TEDx," said Chipchase.
"With a world-class program of free and ticketed creative industry and public talks, collaborations and discussion panels, Vivid Sydney provides a truly global canvas and audience for our artistic, creative and business communities."

Vivid Sydney is owned and managed by Destination NSW with the NSW Government as the major investor, and it is one of five signature events in the NSW Events Calendar.

The full Vivid Sydney program is available at http://vividsydney.com